SP6 ME FMA: Zero
by Evident Disaster
Summary: From the past to the future, will the Elric brothers survive the new age? You can vote for diffrent things to happen and shape the future with Edward and Alphonse, there is also a OC. Equivalent Exchange is back, and badder than ever. Chapter 3 has been rewritten and the story will be undergoing a bunch of changes, hope you all enjoy. :D
1. Chapter 1

Mass Effect X Fullmetal Alchemist: The Age of Zero

Off the coast of England 1924

1year after Munich

Some people used to wonder. "…Is there really such things as heaven?" Or "…will we truly be free from this place of iron and steel and live in a free and beautiful world." To the Elric brothers there was more things that they have seen and accomplished than that of thousands, and have completed more in one life than two.

But something's were just never predictable, such as the future, and what it may hold…

"So, you see? I have accomplished what men would only dream of, and others would fantasise about, I have created ultimate energy, might I also add a wonderful means of harnessing it to." The mad young scientist yelled with gusto.

The lab, or should Al call the pit, was a large circular room inside of an off shore manufacturing facility off the coast of England, he and his brother were both investigating mysterious claims of a new technological discovery, that was until this mad teen decided to steal the discovery with some very familiar steam tech.

"You know, for being so young, you really have one hell of an ego." Edward said hanging from the ceiling.

To elaborate Edward and Alphonse Elric, both had ended up captured because of the mysterious tricks and traps, more to the point, Edward is small, and Alphonse is too trusting. And to over simplify, Edward crawled into a vent and got stuck, Alphonse believed the mad scientist teen of his noble goal for humanity and got caught, and here we are now.

"Well you know Ed, having such a large ego can sometimes be very helpful, you know put all your determination and hard work and you can practically call heaven itself. But enough of this mono-whatever, we now begin a new age of technology; behold my device, the JON Light Driver Zero Conductor." The teen yelled at the top of his voice, though it was more obnoxious because of his major ego.

Edward and Alphonse were both surprised to see this great invention, only to be humoured.

Under the veil of some sheets out came a… two parallel engines with prongs and a circular inner chamber in the middle of the device, there was also the notable energy conductors attached to the bottom and the object itself was metal grey and stood at Edwards height.

Edward tried suppressing his urge to laugh.

"You… call that a new invention, it's really innovative alright…" He burst into laughter; Al on the other hand was just confounded by the tech.

The teen which we all will now address as 'JON Light' was not happy.

"You dare mock my creation? I'll show you…" Jon walked over to his machine and bulled out two spark plugs and connected them to two nodes on his spine, lifting up a small vial of mysterious liquid he poured it into the machine centre where it stayed unaided by gravity or suspension.

This quickly caught the eyes of both the Elric brothers as the machine began to activate, in the centre two spinning circular rings began turning and turning until there was energy, both the brothers were astounded at what they were seeing, Jon started cackling with energy, and soon he was covered head to toe in blue to azure colours.

"Now you witness my greatness- and my- awesome powers, no one will ever mock Jon Jovi."

"Well then, if you're so great, how come we just escaped?" Ed said, his ropes came clean off, Al was doing the same.

"Hah you think you can stop me? I am the age of new technology."

"How about the idiot who forgets that he's connected to a power plug?"

If there was ever a record scratch as loud as the one in Jon's head it would be the most memorable in history.

Edward was holding the plug to Jon's machine in one hand and smiling with Al in the other.

"Well looks like you're finished before you even began." Edward and Al tugged once to remove the plug.

"No you idiotic small fry, the machine will…" A massive energy surge came about as Jon tried to explain.

"Now you've really done it, the machine needed the power to keep it stabilised, now without anything to balance it out, we're all going to die." Jon yelled.

"Now you tell us?" Al yelled.

Both the brothers were holding something tight, Jon on the other hand was being slowly pulled to the glowing machine, which was now emanating a blue and white tunnel of light.

"If I ever survive this, I'll kick your asses." Jon said being finally exhausted.

"Brother do you think well end back at…"

"No."

"Are you absolutely…"

"Yes, why don't we just jump now, my arms are getting tired." The blonde haired brother said.

"Okay."

The two would probably enjoy the few minutes of being sucked into the void, well for a few minutes.

XXXXX

Citadel, presidium, 2183

This was just another day on the presidium, the usual bureaucratic bull that the first human spectre had to deal with on a daily basis. Shepard was called to the presidium due to some strange incident on a corporation called Binary Helix, they were exploring their interests in the rachni and she had saved the species from utter destruction, but now there was a meeting from one of their spokesperson about the incident.

The talk didn't last long, Shepard decided to let the poor guy leave without breaking his nose, Saren was the one who was to blame but she still wanted to punt that prick in the face, she restrained herself from it as well.

Now walking along the railings across the bridge with Tali and Garrus and Kaiden and Ash, the team just needed a couple of days to break, Liara was inside the ship trying to get closer and closer to the truth of the conduit, and Wrex didn't want to go anywhere.

Unknown to the team, the conduit was right behind them, but they wouldn't know for another few days. But that didn't mean someone wasn't coming through.

Shepard walked along the bridge wondering if she should ask Liara on a date, after the hunt for Saren, but then she did wonder about Ashley, it wasn't that she was cheating but her relationship was under a bit of question.

The blonde haired Spectre was not so sure what she was going to do; her train of thought was interrupted as people began to scream.

'What now?" She and the team looked back to see a glowing sphere suddenly materialise out of nowhere, it was just in front of the citadel tower.

(HA THE RELAY WAS A DIVERSION)

The glowing sphere intensified and then began to calm, after a few seconds the sphere was replaced a tunnel of light.

Shepard and her squad ran down to see what was going on, and as soon as they arrived, they were in for a surprise.

A few shouts and yells came through and suddenly a trio of people popped out of the tunnel and landed on the pristine white floor, though it was soiled as a bunch of books and papers flew out with them. (Why is the entire drop in's so clean I mean really people getting sucked out of one end of a tunnel should have things follow them shouldn't they?)

The three individuals lay sprawled on top of each other, two were wearing brown coats and some strange emblems of a serpent and a cross, and the third was a part machine?

XXXXX

Edward opened his eyes feeling dreary, his head hurt from being flung from one end of the earth to the other, or so he thought, looking up from where he was he noticed the open skies and white buildings, but something seemed wrong with the sky.

'Wait, that's not the sky!' He thought.

Getting up he noticed that he had landed on top of Al and Jon, he also noticed the avian looking being with three claws moving toward him and Al.

'Is that a homunculus?' Ed was confused, it looked like a mix of a bird but unlike the ones he had seen, and there was the fact that he could see plenty more.

The avian moved closer and activated something on its arm, and then asked.

"Hold it kid, I'm with Citadel Security, stay where you are."

'Did he just call me a Kid?' The bird was going to be surprised.

"I am NOT A KID!" Edward got to his feet faster than anyone, and had a terrifying look on his face that could probably make most species pale.

Grabbing the turian by the face, he said in plain words. "I'm nineteen bird brains."

It was just then a woman and some interesting people came along.

"Umm, you know you should probably let the turian go." She said humoured at the whole situation.

Edward did so, but he wasn't happy about being called a kid.

Al and Jon were both getting back up on their feet to also be greeted by the mysterious world.

"Brother?" Al asked.

"Yeah I know we ended up somewhere even equivalent exchange couldn't get us out of."

To Ed's surprise he noticed something, he felt stronger and better than he did in a long time, it made him wonder.

"Ah, we have ended up somewhere else; I'm probably guessing the future or the very far reaches of the universe." Jon said before Ed decided to smack him over the head.

"Ouch, what was that for?" He shouted.

"How about the jackass who thought it was a great idea to start practicing alchemy with an unknown device?" Ed poked Jon's chest.

"I knew how to utilise ultimate power, but how about you, you, little gnat, going in and ruining my great works." Jon retaliated.

"Umm, guys?" Al was trying to alert them to the gathering crowd and security.

"You call me a gnat again and well see who the one more incompetent is?" Jon said, he pulled the little string on his chest that connected to a belt and it began to whir to life.

Ed jumped back as the coat of the mad scientist tore apart; it revealed a pair of mechanical arms attached to Jon's back.

"Now let's see how far you get." He said swinging at Ed.

Al decided to wait behind seeing as the crowd was growing and so was the security, and when the fight broke out they all ran a bit back.

The mechanical arms changed and a triple drill head popped out of each arm, they swung forwards to Ed who in turn dodged each with amazing grace.

Another swing from Jon had managed to strike Ed's right shoulder, though bystanders were surprised that he didn't scream in pain, instead he grabbed the drill with his right hand, the sizzling from his gloves revealed a prosthetic hand.

"What, I thought I was the only one to have mechanisms in my body?" Jon was not in a good position.

Ed snapped off the drill tip, and faced Jon properly, though he had to do something first, clapping his hands together Ed touched the ground, strangely enough the floor sparked, and then suddenly a transmutation circle appeared.

The ground shook as the light from the circle expanded and shot forwards to his feet, and in a split second he was welded to the floor.

XXXXX

Shepard and her team watched in stunned silence as they witnessed something more powerful than biotic powers, the only thing to break that silence was.

"That was new."

This is a new story that will be airing later

Hope you enjoy

This will be updated much slower

And there will be questions I know, okay

Options

1 do we have Ed and _ as a romance? (You decide)

2 Shepard, will be interested in the group of teens

3 who will be with Al?

4 Any suggestions?


	2. Chapter 2

CH2

XXXXX

Strange acquaintances…

XXXXX

Edward Elric had once believed to have seen everything, well not anymore...

The masses of lights and transports whizzing by, people and places he had never seen, and this was all in outer space, in the void that he knew he'd one day reach. And here he was now, but there was something odd about being in space, he didn't know when he was.

"Welcome to the year 2183, you've travelled more than 200 years in such a short time." Shepard said.

Having most of his things removed, exception of his arm, he was now being interviewed by a strange armoured person.

To be bold was one thing, but blunt was another, and Shepard had decided to go blunt, considering that Edward had tried to escape more than once. He and Al were sitting together inside the office of some place called C-sec, and he was being questioned on the fine components of how he managed to end up there with their light bulb nut job friend, who he had fused to the floor outside the citadel tower.

"This is the future? Wow, never imagined it being like this…" Al said dreamily.

"Wait a minute, if this is the future, then why are you holding us back here? I mean we need to get going back to our timeline." Edward stated.

"Well we can't do that, because we just don't know how." Shepard said.

Ed looked at her with some burning feeling that she was right, and that he would have to live with it, but there was an obvious problem.

"How are we supposed to live in the future? We don't have jobs, and I certainly don't think anyone would need a German speaking mechanic on the fine workings of gas engines, or old vehicles, or rockets." Edward replied.

"Well that might not be so bad, considering that you aren't a normal human being, you managed to fuse a person into the floor by changing the molecular properties and displaced them for a short moment before reorganising them, no living being can do that." Shepard said.

"Well that's because I'm an alchemist, the full metal alchemist, of a time and place that really doesn't exist, so trust me when I say this, don't go there."

"Okay then, what do you intent to do then, mister alchemist, make more things change?" Shepard asked.

A clap f his hands, which were cuffed, and they glowed and then fell off, he replied.

"Yes."

"Well good, because we were hoping that you'd do that do you could pass the test."

"What test?"

"If you're claim on being able to transform things actually were true, looks like they were."

Al and Ed looked at Jane, whom in turn smiled at them.

"Well looks like you two are in for a surprise."

XXXXX

They arrived at the embassy, where Anderson and Udina were waiting; they had equally concerned looks on their faces as Shepard returned with the mystery duo.

"So, how's our claim to the council going?" Shepard asked.

"Not very good, considering that these two had caused enough trouble, the alliance has been trying to get its name cleared, but the council keeps on insisting that you're friends here be some kind of secret program." Udina huffed.

Shepard couldn't help but snort at the ridiculous allegations to the alliance.

"Well we can't waste any more time here, we should speak with them." Shepard said.

They walked over to the holographic conference; there they had the images of the councillors materialise to speak with them. Edward and Alphonse couldn't help but stare with some amazement and excitement; this was like being a kid at a candy store. Just that all the candy is made of metal and most things are just shiny gadgets and gears.

"The meeting is now in session, you're argument to the council on the evidence of two wanderers who arrived on the Citadel by known means, and their claims of time travel?" Tevos stated.

"Yes, this enigmatic joke, I cannot believe that these two teenagers could even possibly reach the citadel from the early 20th century, there is no evidence that could possibly prove their claim." Valern said.

Shepard decided to respond. "Well sir, these two have evidence, their papers, the pieces of technology, none by our standards are even remotely advanced, and as a matter of fact even the small pieces of machinery, all were from the 20th century."

Maelon the salarian councillor countered. "Yes, however commander, there's still the fact that these pieces of machinery and papers could be easily replicated, there's nothing that can actually prove their claim, the council is still between decisions of how they manipulate objects around them, no being has done such thing before."

It was then that Al and Ed stepped in.

"No listen here, we aren't from whatever timeline you're currently living and I sure don't want to stay, even as amazing as it is, we can't because there's too many things to understand, even for us."

"What my brother means is that, surely you're jumping a bit on the conclusion, the situation does seem a bit amazing, and overly excessive. However the council should understand our situation is plausible, if just a bit hard to believe."

Maelon softened in his judgement somewhat. "True, he can be right, considering that some salarian scientists have been attempting to manipulate space and time or at least understand how it works."

"Well then if the judgement is unsure how to proceed, what do you intend to do with a small teenager and a young adult…"

"DON'T CALL ME A CHILD OR SHORT!" Ed yelled with a burning fury.

The turian councillor stumbled back in fear at very scary looking child with burning eyes.

Shepard and Al were both holding him back, the councillors decided to make a mental note not to call him a child or short. While Udina looked absolutely pale as though he was going to lose his job on the citadel, and Anderson stood and watched bemused at the current course of events.

XXXXX

Wards

Shepard had completed her report and had her team with her as they were to take Alphonse and Edward to the shops in the wards, here they were to help pitch in and give them handy advice on what they needed and what they'd like to use.

They had most of their things returned, including all the chemical bottles Jon had kept hidden.

Though Al and Ed had no idea on the concept of using credits, they had however had a keen eye on what they were looking for, they first went to the bank, where Barla Von had given them the necessary means of getting their job done. And now there were two more people in the galaxy, which led them to go around the citadel looking for what they needed.

They arrived at one small place called.

"Old and New"

The dainty little shop was a pawn shop for all antique tools and artefacts; there were trinkets and small pieces of scrap, which in the eyes of Ed and Al looked far more interesting. The Volus owner of the store went out to greet them.

"Welcome earth clan, would you like something to trade or sell?" He asked.

Edward still had a lot of stuff he had in his pockets, and Al, they replied.

"Do you know anything on what these would be?" Ed smiled.

He removed an old M1911, he managed to get the with two full clips, he also removed an old flashlight, a couple of flasks of mixed reactive chemicals, and a number of German Marks, an old scope and some protractors and a small invention called a radio, though it was the size of Al's arm.

The volus looked at things with intense scrutiny, but after a while he almost seemed to be in a trance, he couldn't believe the find of a lifetime, these were objects from so far back he couldn't believe it.

"My goodness, the great fortunes of my ancestors must be on me, you have one of the greatest finds on the Citadel, or perhaps in the galaxy, please you must tell me where you found these."

Ed decided to answer. "My family kept them around for some time."

"Well here's what I will offer, you can have 30 million credits for all of this, and maybe 45 if you give me those old clothes as well for a whole set, this is the discovery of a lifetime for me, well?" He asked.

The two Elric brothers had no idea, but they had a feeling that they were going to get lighter, and very quickly…

XXXXX

30 minutes later…

The two Elric brothers walked out covered in the new fashionable clothes of the era, they walked out with a very surprised Shepard and team, and they were all still amazed that just so many things would fetch a great price.

"So you're telling us that we're millionaires?" Ed asked.

"Yeah pretty much, we're just happy that you're better off on your own." Kaiden replied.

"So, who wants lunch?" Ash asked.

They walked down through the wards and found a quaint little bakery, a human serving some customers and a lot of people walking about, Ed and Al were greeted by a young German sounding chef.

"Hello, and welcome to Volk and Folk, our service is to provide the best bread and lunch meals in this level of the wards. What may I get you?" The brown haired chef asked.

Al ordered, considering that he had a thing for good foods. "I'll get one honey crumble and some full white bread with salad and some chicken, my brother will have the long loaf with seasoning and same additions. And I wouldn't mind if you had some coffee."

"Very well you're orders will be in five minutes, just sit at table nine." The chef said.

They walked away from the counter and sat at their table, they were joined by some of the crew, with the exception of Tali and Wrex, who went to go get their own foods. They sat and talked about what they were planning on doing.

"So Shepard, I was curious, but can we join you on your mission, from what everyone keeps saying, it's a chance of a lifetime." Ed asked.

"Well it is, but I don't think that civilians are supposed to join military missions out of curiosity, you're different and unknown to the rest of the galaxy, and I can't say that you can't join, but what qualities do you actually possess?" Shepard asked.

"Well I can Trans-mutate anything I need to and I have had years of study in alchemy and science." He replied with pride.

"Can you do anything else?" Shepard asked.

"I can repair most mechanical gadgets if I know what I'm looking at and I've had years of hand to hand combat training and I have a mechanical arm and leg that can be transformed for combat."

That seemed to sit well for Shepard, she could see that the young man was going to be an interesting addition to the crew, but she wasn't sure having 20th century humans about a 23rd century ship being a good idea, but her team needed the hand, even if it was from a teen.

"Okay, but you two are going to need some time to practice, both in the use of firearms and technology, thankfully Ashley here can do that, and Tali can teach you how to use tech, but there's still other obstacles needed to be overcome. Either than that, welcome aboard." Shepard said.

She shook hands with Ed and Al, and they had their lunch together, but not without being watched by a certain someone.

XXXXX

They returned to the Normandy where they were gathering all their things, the new supplies, and the fact that Ed and Al went shopping for what they needed, once they had everything squared away, they all went back to the ship.

And there was a strange person waiting for them to return.

"So, looks like the two brothers of steel get to go on, while I had to remain in a blasted hospital with a lot of needles." Jon said annoyed.

The young man removed his cloak and revealed that he had been in a lot of pain, he was covered in marks where the doctors had tried to remove his external armour and his infused tech, most still remained, but he wasn't happy.

"Don't make us kick your ass again." Ed threatened.

"Ha, I'd like to see you try, but I'm not here to squabble, I need to get away from this place, I'd rather face the void than another needle." He replied with some squeamish feeling.

"Oh so now you need help?"

"Hey, I just had my rear end probed, okay, be thankful that you haven't been violated in such a way, and also I need to get my bearings straight cause I'm lost."

Shepard decided to offer her opinion.

"We can take him along, as long as he behaves himself, and also, it wouldn't hurt to have extra pair of hands or four?" She smirked.

"Ha, ha, really funny, I get it, the spider guy." He replied annoyed.

The crew didn't really have an issue, not until later that was.

XXXXX

"So, this is the crew quarters, and here's our mess, please make sure not to mix up food, we don't have a label on anything in the kitchen, so be careful." Shepard said.

They went down some stairs and into the main hangar, where a large vehicle was and where Garrus was working on calibrating the guns, and where Wrex was and where Ashley was stationed. Then they went to engineering.

"And here's where Tali works and there's the E-zero core and out large as heck engine, just make sure to meet with Tali on how things work and she'd give you a run for your money, well either than that welcome aboard, oh and make sure not to transform anything, the inspection that happened before wasn't too happy."

"Okay commander, we got it, we know where to go now, just one question." Ed asked.

"What?"

"Where's the bathroom?"

XXXXX

The Normandy left the Citadel, with a few more strays and a lot more exciting events to come, the team was on their way to deal with a geth installation not far in the Voyager cluster and then to deal with pirates near Nova Terra, and hopefully some R&R by the end of the week.

In the meantime, it was training for three new recruits, having Ed and Al as adepts and having Jon as some kind of support. They went about firearms, and how to unfold a pistol without breaking one, and how to not jam the doors, and probably not keep everyone awake while reading novels in bed.

"And how about, not listening to music WHEN I'M SPEAKING!" Shepard yelled.

Jon jumped from the roar the commander gave to him; he almost fell off bench where he was learning to repair his arms.

"Look Commander, I've been doing everything right for the past week, I need to get this arm fixed though, and maybe picking a few pieces out of storage may seem selfish or maybe not wise, but I need to get this done."

"Well that may be good and all, but that still doesn't change the fact you did that without my consent."

"Oh, well don't look now, but there might have been more than just me to your anger."

She wondered what he meant until she noticed the large glowing amounts of light and realised that the Hangar had a new vehicle; a hybrid fighter with a spitfire had been fused into a smaller frame and streamlined.

The crew watched earnestly as the two Elric brothers put their knowledge of aerodynamics and mass effect technology into use, and were going about like the Wright brothers. Shepard couldn't help but be amazed that they'd go to all those lengths to get this new idea in reality, and the alliance was going to have a field day when they learn what they made.

"This is going to be out idea, the Hayabusa class fighter, strong and swift, this is one fighter that we can test on missions." Ed said.

The crew looked on in amazement as they clapped their hands and transformed the other parts and fused them seamlessly together. Their use of powers had been getting a lot of attention, especially since that Tali and Kaiden had been spending their time observing what they did, Tali liking Al in the most sense of curiosity.

Liara was just observing from a scientific view, and keeping her memories of her now dead mother out, whilst she helped them. There was something that she liked about the more practical things about science and she never imagined that being part of a project would be so exciting.

Shepard couldn't help but wonder why the two brothers wanted to begin such a presumptuous plan, it was a great morale booster, but she didn't know why.

It was just the possibility that she was just going to have to let things for the two brothers go, even if it was a rather time consuming plan.

XXXXX

Somewhere else…

Winry Rockbell seemed to enjoy the years passed, she watched the skies in the night dreaming of where Edward and Al might have ended up, but all she can see is the warm summer lands of a place unknown and she wished she could see the two again.

Back in the Amestrian Military command Roy Mustang reads some strange articles on some reports to the west of the old ruins of Ishval, the scouts have no idea what they located, just that it was massive.

Roy couldn't help but wonder if god was playing another joke, or if this was going to be something they needed to be careful about.

XXXXX

Dun, dun, dun, well here's your update, you ask and I deliver.

Just one thing before I go, please make sure that if you want me to update contact me! I'm F*** serious do not just wait, contact me.


	3. Chapter 3 Rewritten

CH3: Meet the crew

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AN: In all honesty I probably should have done this much sooner. The chapter was supposed to pick up roughly after the crew set off, and also the story's going under a rewrite, there's so much crap I hadn't fixed since I started this fic and it's bugging me now. Also anyone got good pairing ideas please state them now.

XXXXX

Location: Currently en-route to Voyager Cluster

Time: 6:15 AM

Date: 2183

It was morning today, well supposedly morning; Ed's insomnia hadn't passed since they left dock at the Citadel, partly due to the fact that his internal clock hadn't adjusted to the sudden change in sleeping times. For a lack of a better term would be space lag, the thought of open space hadn't helped him either.

He slept on his bunk above his brother's and next to where Jon was currently snoring away, though subtly, it was still kind of annoying. He decided that now was a better time than any to get breakfast or look around the ship again; there really wasn't much else to do, well since most of the crew was busy with things.

He and Al had been planning on creating a new kind of plane, but that'd have to wait, Shepard was adamant about then doing stuff without authorisation or consideration, there wasn't enough resources to begin doing large scale projects like the one he and Al suggested. He sighed inwardly that he might not get the chance to do something incredible, besides he had enough of waiting around.

As he slipped out of bed he changed into his clothes, form fitting pants, clean black shirt, and he exited the quarters assigned to him and his brother, and well their counterpart. As he entered into the mess, he found one other person present. The lithe form of Tali was seated in a chair at the mess with a tube of food paste, and a few pads slates lying around her.

"Hey Tali." He greeted the Quarian mechanic.

Tali turned her head about and saw him. She replied in kind. "Morning Edward, I didn't know you were awake."

"Yeah well couldn't get much sleep, what are you doing up so early? I thought your shift didn't start for another 6 hours?" Ed asked candidly as he looked around for the pesky fridge, it looked like one of the storage lockers than a fridge.

"Yes, well as you said, I couldn't get much sleep either." She replied in an offhanded manner.

Ed's attention was piqued; it was odd she was acting this way. He decided to play it careful.  
"So I hear that our mission's taking us to the Voyager cluster, any idea what the planets are like there?"

"I wouldn't have much of a clue, I've only just gotten the report from the computers on current conditions, I still haven't gone through them, though I hear a few are abundant in plant and animal life, not to mention beautiful." She responded with a thoughtful tone.

"That's good, but with all of this talk about likely running into trouble, I thought you might be a bit anxious." He finally said bluntly.

"Not really, being around Shepard's let me see a lot of amazing things, not to mention doing incredible stuff; I just hope she doesn't have some reservations with personal agendas." Tali said in a worried tone.

He finally got out what was bothering her.  
"So I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm assuming you were planning on making additional plans for visiting the Voyager cluster?" He asked her.

She sighed; there wasn't much point in hiding it now.  
"The Quarian people are a displaced species, you need to understand, all of this is because of our creations, and the lack of the council to help us. And now the Geth are back, and the council still does little to alleviate the threat. I was asked by my leaders to go do some searching in Voyager, since I was part of Shepard's crew; I could do it without being stopped by anyone. Aside from Shepard herself..."

"And you feel this personal mission might jeopardize your relations with the Commander?" Edward assumed.

Tali nodded.  
"As much as I hate to admit it, I believe that Shepard's a lot better suited for this sort of thing than I am, not to mention the sheer amount of geth in the Voyager cluster might be a bit high, there's been a lot of activity from what these recent data pads indicate. I also don't want to feel like I'm leeching onto Shepard for strength."

Ed tried to reassure her. "Shepard won't think less of you if you just ask for help, there's not much to lose, and since this does sort of coincide with the mission out to Voyager, I'm sure she'll make time to help you out." He said kindly.

Tali seemed to relax. "Thanks Ed." She said gratefully.

As he got back to getting an early breakfast, Tali got back to whatever she wanted to do. He took some time to get back to eating; it wasn't long before he left for the CIC, he wished to check on the assignments which were now available. He heard that there was a need for an engineer for a colony which had trouble on a desert world somewhere in the Voyager cluster.

Shepard hadn't necessarily given him permission as of yet, he wanted to go try doing assignments himself, as was well as Al. As he walked into the CIC he was greeted by the crew who were shifting in between night and day cycle, the room was fairly empty, but he did notice another crewmember present.

Ashley was off checking something on the console next to the galaxy map. Ed decided to see what she was up to. "Hey there Ash, what are you doing?" He inquired.

Ash was a little surprised to see him up and about this early.  
"Oh hey Ed, uh, I was busy looking for something, just needed to go over some of our next assignments. I thought I would be accompanying Shepard on the next mission to intervene in the Geth raids. But it seems like I'm not going again." She replied in a slightly annoyed tone.

"What's the problem with that?" He asked quizzically.

Ash seemed apprehensive in replying, but explained partly.  
"Shepard and I've been around since the beginning and now, well she's distanced herself from me. I don't have much to do, aside from babysit rookies, save some idiots who got trapped under a boulder or managed to shoot themselves in the foot." She stated in a definite amount of irritation boiling up.

"Uh, so I guess that must be really important?" He asked her.

"To me it is." She said in annoyance before she departed, she didn't seem like she wanted to talk anymore.

Somehow Ed had a feeling that Ash was withholding something, but since he just arrived, he had no idea what sort of standing Ash had with the commander. So he decided to leave it for now, he was better of asking Shepard herself about her relationship with Ash. As he walked to the console, there was a sudden shudder that rippled through the ship.

It was then the intercom activated.  
"Uh commander, you might want to get up here, now..." Joker who had been seated in the cockpit said in a little bit of panic.

Ed turned and jogged over to where the helm was located, he was soon faced with a rather unsettling sight.  
"What?" He said to himself.

Before him there was a sight, the sight of another ship, it was sitting there in space, its side burnt open and crew and debris spilt from a massive scar in its side.  
"That can't be good." Joker said aloud.

XXXXX

AN: Done and done, hope you all like the revamped chapter.


End file.
